Thank you, New Girl Season 4 Episode 6, for getting "Landslide" stuck into our head all night.
Fortunately – as Nick pointed out while often singing this classic song out loud on an especially zany episode of this Fox sitcom – it really is a pretty darn good tune.
"Background Check" centered around exactly that: Winston telling his roommates they had to be on their best behavior because a superior was coming by the apartment to conduct a background check as part of his police academy training.
This was a big moment for Winston, so big that Coach canceled his plans to go outlet mall shopping for it. (Yes, on a weekend, but don’t worry: he had a plan and everything.)
As much as any episode in recent memory, this half hour simply centered around Jess and company acting like… well, Jess and company. It made a great comedic punchline over the simple fact that so many weird people live in such small quarters.
Especially when one of them is hiding a giant bag of meth.
Yes, Jess admitted this unexpected fact to Coach, Nick, Schmidt and Cece, explaining that it was hidden in a piece of furniture she purchased a long time ago and she hasn’t known what to do with it since.
So… what can she possibly do with it now that a cop is coming over?!?
Throw it out the window? That would have gone better if Jess didn’t throw like a boy and force the bag to spill open when tossing it to Schmidt.
Flush it down the toilet? That didn’t go well. It just clogged the system.
While Jess was trying to figure out how to avoid the clink, Nick was sweating through every possible article of clothing attempting to keep quiet about the drugs, while Schmidt was grilling Cece over some dude named "Paul" she went on a date with.
Was it Mark Paul Gosselaar?!? No, but Jess had Schmidt going there for a second, as he got all excited over a wedding that maybe Slater and Screech would also attend.
Coach, meanwhile, left the apartment to track down a made up Boys and Girls Club member that Winston supposedly mentors. His imaginary name is Duquan Feldman.
In the end, Jess was forced to admit to Winston that she didn’t go to him first about the drugs because she didn’t really see him as a cop. This hit home for Winston, with New Girl managing to wring some actual emotion out of a crazy half hour.
Fortunately, Sergeant Tess “The Fish” Dorado does see Winston as a cop. After identifying the meth as a bag of aquarium rocks, she said Winston was one of her best cadets.
So the episode ends on a positive note, despite Nick wearing a kimono and panic moonwalking at one point.
You can watch New Girl online by clicking on the above video and relive some of the best New Girl quotes from this winning installment below:
- Winston: I’m pretty sure they call her ‘The Fish’ because she’s tough, but fair – like a lot of fish I’ve met.
- Nick: I’m not putting on the kimono. It legitimizes you owning it.
- The Fish: I have no idea why you live with these people. What kind of person would urinate on an electrical socket?